Mugabe's nephew dumps Harare water project

LATE Former President Robert Mugabe's nephew, Leo Mugabe is under fire over failure to complete the Oddis Plant project his company and some Israelites were long contracted to work on by the Harare City Council.

The project site, which is adjacent to Morton Jaffray Waterworks, was commissioned in the 1990s and was expected to provide an additional 40 megalitres of water to parts of Harare.

Addressing the media during a tour of the water plant by Local Government Minister July Moyo and some council officials Friday, Harare Mayor, Herbert Gomba said Mugabe was paid for the job in the 1990s.

"That plant was built in the 1990s. It was meant to generate 40 mega litres for the people but it's not working," said Gomba.

"â€¦Leo Mugabe was the local representative. The company is owned by him and some Israelites."

Gomba threatened to report the matter to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).

However, Mugabe is said to have then offered to finish the project.

"There are two factors around why the Oddis plant is not working," Gomba said.

"The first one is that the contractors left and there were some payments which were done. When I made a statement to say we were going to report to ZACC, suddenly the contractors are knocking on our doors and saying can we talk so that we can finish the work that we are supposed to finish."

Gomba has promised to have the project finished so that it could provide water to some parts of Harare.

"We are concerned that the plant is not working. As council, we are going to make a decision as to how best we can enforce so that plant starts to work. I have instructed that they come to Town House so we can see how we can address that," he added.

City authorities were last month forced to shut down Morton Jaffray due to shortages of imported water treatment chemicals and low water levels at Lake Chivero.

Harare has been battling serious water woes for decades.

Gomba has promised to have the Oddis plant working.

Source - newzimbabwe

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